BibleProject - The Crisis of Decision – Parables E4

Episode Date: April 6, 2020

The parables of Jesus force a choice for his listeners. Will they embrace the upside-down value system of the Kingdom of God, or will they refuse to participate in the party? In this episode, Tim and Jon discuss two additional themes of the parables.View full show notes and images from this episode →Show MusicDefender Instrumental by TentsLate Night Driving by Broke In SummerMorning Station by Tokyo Music WalkerCollages by Sleepy FishShow produced by Dan GummelPowered and distributed by Simplecast

Hey, this is Cooper at Bible Project. I produce the podcast in Classroom. We've been exploring a theme called the City, and it's a pretty big theme. So we decided to do two separate Q and R episodes about it. We're currently taking questions for the second Q and R and we'd love to hear from you. Just record your question by July 21st

and send it to us at infoatbiboproject.com. Let us know your name and where you're from, try to keep your question to about 20 seconds and please transcribe your question when you email it. That's a huge help to our team. We're excited to hear from you. Here's the episode. Hey everybody, this is Tim at the Bible Project

and this is a quick additional note before we jump into the podcast episode for this week. Like you, I'm being inundated with news, updates, and conversations about this novel coronavirus pandemic, and it's really important that we all stay informed so that we know what to do. But at the same time, probably like many of you, I have crossed my own mental threshold for the amount of news that I should be consuming. And I kind of go crazy.

I can feel my blood pressure and anxiety go up. And what I need to do is also remember that I also still have a life and can and should think about other things. And that's probably true for you too. And so we just wanted to say this out loud. I don't know if we needed to say it, but we wanted to. That we're going to continue with the podcast, not because we don't think this crisis is important to think about and really think about deeply, but really it's that John and I

aren't the people to create that resource. There's so many good resources and podcasts out there. What we want to offer is a chance to continue to deepen and become more wise in how we read the Bible, and we believe that can give us really important shifts of perspective and new ways to think about this whole crisis, and the choices we're making as we go through it. So one other quick thing, a reminder, John said this a couple of weeks ago, for those of you who are a part of a local church community, we really want to encourage you to stay connected to your local church online during this time. So have the ability to put out resources to participate in that, stay connected.

Let's all remember to stay financially committed to our local churches during this time. This is going to be devastating for many church communities financially. And so let's remember our commitment to keep giving to our church, even though we can't be there physically with the people of our church. We can online and we can financially help keep them supported. At the Bible Project, we are putting out a weekly resource that's just something additional. If you already have some resources from your church of things to do, but we wanted to produce one more

It's just called church at home. It's a weekly email that takes one of our videos and then we are giving some Scriptural readings and some personal and discussion Questions to help you kind of reflect you could take 10 minutes or half an hour to do it by yourself with your family or with some other people Like in a Google hangout or something like that. If you're not on our email newsletter list, there's a simple way to get it. If you want to get our newsletter or the church at home resources that come weekly, you can go to bibleproject.com, our website, just scroll down to the very bottom and you'll see a simple way to give your email and join our newsletter

circle. And there you go, you'll be on the team. So thanks so much for listening. May God's blessing and peace be with you. May God give us courage to trust him this week and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Alright, let's dive into the episode for this week. as ourselves. Alright, let's dive into the episode for this week. Hey, this is John at the Bible Project. Right now, we're talking about parables on this podcast, and it's easy to think about the parables of Jesus as just great moral lessons that we can go away and slowly chew on throughout our lives. But for Jesus, in his setting, sometimes the purpose of the parables were meant to create a moment of crisis. Jesus come into Israel,

it's the culmination of that covenant story, and saying, you guys, it's now or never, where they're going to be the light to the nations and the city on the hill, that, as I said, the only way it's going to happen is if you follow me and the kingdom as I'm presenting it. The Jewish people believed that from among them would come a leader, the Messiah, who would bring Israel and the whole world into a new age of peace and prosperity, that is the kingdom of God.

And Jesus claimed that he was that Messiah. The problem was Jesus didn't act like a typical king would act consolidating power, preparing to take control through might. Instead, he preached about a loving and forgiving father whose ethic seemed upside down. And he warns, if you don't accept my way, which is the way of radical forgiveness and reconciliation, you're gonna go down the way

of rebels, either the rebels or the compromises around, and both of those are going to lead to Jerusalem's destruction, and they did. Not just a few decades after Jesus was executed and resurrected, what happened to Jerusalem was exactly what Jesus predicted would happen. That's the first context of meaning. So today, we look at how Jesus used parables

to create a crisis. Are you part of what God is doing or not? Thanks for joining us. Here we are. Talking about the parables of Jesus. How to read them wisely. How to appreciate what Jesus was doing with these parables. That he wasn't just some moral teacher explaining moral ideas and theological ideas and decided

parables are the best way to do that. He's doing something much grander. And more focused. Yeah, and more focused. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. His life had a very sp-like, important, crucially important, meaning and purpose. Something was happening with him that was culminating the whole story of God's work with Israel. And what he was doing was so important and so confusing to many people. Yeah, surprising. Surprising. Counter-intuitive.

That he told parables to help people begin to digest and reorient the way they think about what the kingdom of God actually is. Yeah. For some, for some, for those who have ever did that. Yes, for people with ears. But then they also were told to throw other people off his trail. Yeah.

At least that's what he said he was doing. And the surprising nature of God's kingdom is a main theme that goes through a large chunk of his parables that the yeast in the dough, the tiny seed that grows into a huge tree. The way you think about the kingdom of God needs to change. It's probably wrong. The assumption is probably wrong. Yeah. The assumption is probably wrong. Let me give you new word pictures, images, metaphors, to reshape that if you have ears to hear.

There's two other themes you wanna walk through. Yeah. And so let's get into those. Yep, so yeah, if the first was about the kingdom of God, the way Jesus is bringing it, it's the real fulfillment of the whole story of the Hebrew scriptures and of God in Israel. But the way that it's coming is going to surprise you.

That's the first main theme in the parables. Another big main theme in the parables is similar, but it is different. It's that the value system that God's kingdom endorses and is creating among Jesus' followers, it is upside down and opposite of how his listener see the world and what his listener's value. Yeah, these kind of seem to go hand in hand if they do. Yeah, the way that it's arriving is surprising. Here is the order.

The effect it has. The social order that it creates is equally surprising. Equally surprising. Yeah, you're right. They are related. So into this go, into this category go, most of the parables that typically get assigned teaching moral truths.

So his parables about forgiveness, about money, about the radical, inclusive invitation to God's kingdom, this is kind of where all of those live. We already read one of them, the parable of the meal with the Pharisees Yes, is a stellar example. You think this is the party where you're all important Yeah, the real parties down the street. Mm-hmm. Where all the people you think are not important. Yeah, that's right

So the point isn't like the previous category how and when it arrives the King will got arrived It's when the kingdom of God arrives It will assert God's rule over the world and people who want to live in that kingdom will take on the way of life That the kingdom of God endorses. What is that way of life? Yeah, well surely that guy says at the table that's like a bunch of Jewish men sitting in social rank Eating a meal cuz right Where do you put it that way? No. No. No.

Jesus says no. It's not like that at all. So think the parables about forgiveness. One he tells at another meal at a Pharisee's house and a woman, a sex worker, that gave up that way of life and income, joined his band of followers, comes and pours the perfume on his feet, and a rumble of religious experts and authorities. Right? This woman walks in. This is such a moment of public shame in their eyes on Jesus,

that both of them, he both associates with her, according to their social ladder. But also that she just burst into the room and did this thing. And then, so Jesus tells the story, you know, there were two guys, who I'm making up the numbers here, whatever, 50, 10000. And the lender forgave both their debts. Which one's going to be more grateful? And then the guy says, I don't want the one who was forgiven more.

And then yeah, he's made the point. So the real value set of God's kingdom is not your own self-made social status. King Rho God doesn't endorse our currently existing social ranks. It actually undermines them with the radical gift and grace nature of the kingdom. So it creates a flat social playing field. That's a big theme in Jesus teachings.

But notice his teachings about forgiveness ultimately are getting to this social rank issue even. When you don't forgive someone because they're wrong to you. Like with my brother sins against me, so. But then when I cut someone off, when I don't forgive them and cut them off, that is also, especially in their kind of society, that has huge social consequences. They're outside the pale of God's forgiveness and grace. Or at least mine, right? If I cut someone out of my family in real life,

I'm making a judgment about their worth, their ultimate worth. And actually, if you think about this, there might be somebody who say, God can't forgive them, that doesn't mean I have to. Right. But Jesus. Or that you can forgive but still have boundaries. Yeah, that's right. And forgiveness, this is in Matthew chapter 18,

forgiveness is different than reconciliation. In Jesus' mind, you can forgive someone and not be best friends with them again and not even have to really be around them. Where does Jesus go? At least by yourself. When he says if someone wrongs you and then he says, go to them yourself,

but if that's not a safe situation, don't ever be alone with them again. Go with a couple others, then bring more people in. So for an unreconciled relationship, Jesus doesn't envision that you hang out with them. Yeah, magic reconciliation. Yeah, in fact, he tells you not to hang out with them alone. Yeah. It's not a safe situation. So, but you can still forgive a person. So there's a difference between, I'm holding out forgiveness and I see you as lesser. That's right. And Jesus is my nut.

So when God forgives somebody, his aim is at full reintegration, reconciliation, and inclusion within the covenant family and God's people. This is why in the Lord's Prayer, forgive us, our sins, just as we forgive. So forgiveness is actually one of the ways that God's people imitate the arrival of the kingdom of God. It's an expression of the value set. So this is a good example.

Jesus is a moral teacher. He taught about forgiveness. Yeah, I see. But as some abstracted thing above them. Correct. Versus, no, this is in order for this new type of community to exist. Yes.

For forgiveness has to be the core of it. That's right. And in an honor, shame society, it seems like the volumes turned up a little bit or like it's important for me to recognize that you are important. You're important and you can be part of this with me. And so I'll forgive you. Versus you can forgive even if you don't, I don't know, I'm not.

Yeah, no, you can forgive them. It doesn't mean that things go back to, it doesn't necessarily mean, although that's what you should aim for. I'm just trying to understand how you would use a lack of forgiveness to keep social status. Maybe, so maybe status, maybe the vertical higher lower status doesn't help.

Okay. I think translate it onto a higher lower status doesn't help. Okay. I think translate it onto a horizontal plane and just boundary lines. Who's in, who's out? Who's in and who's out? Okay. You wronged me? You're out. And Jesus' whole point is if God was to use that strategy with His covenant people, Israel,

we're all out. We're all out. And the radical gift of God's kingdom that is so surprising is that we don't even realize how outside of the boundaries of the covenant we all are, and God is still inviting us inside to the party, at least while there's time. And God has conditions for joining the party. Totally. He can forgive and say come to the party. Yeah. And in the same way, we can forgive people and say, let's work towards reconciliation. Yeah. But there's, you know, there's a healthy way to get that.

That's right. That's another category within these parables about the Kingdom of God value system, is its radical invitation to all any and all, regardless of status, rank, or your place in relation to the boundary lines. Could be the workers in the vineyard, where the guy hires people all throughout the day. Right, and they pay them the same. And they pay them all the same. And then the guys working all day are so ticked off.

And he's just like, what? You're right. You got a farmer's farm. Farer wage. Yeah. Oh, what do you say, sis? Are you angry because I'm generous? You're angry at me for being generous.

Yeah, because you weren't generous to me or generous to this guy. If you're going to be generous, be'm generous. You're angry at me for being generous. Yeah, because you weren't generous to me, you're generous to this guy. If you're gonna be generous, be fairly generous. Yes! Which defeats the whole purpose. Be generous according to people's work. Hahaha. Or famously, just the three lost and found parables.

These are some of the most famous parables. This is in Luke chapter 15. Lost coin, the lost sheep. That's the last one, right? It starts with the sheep. It starts with the sheep. Then the coin, then the sun, the lost sun, the prodigal sun. Yeah, here, look at Luke, Luke 15, and Jesus said,

A man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me. So he divided his wealth between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. This is the new American standard.

What's it in Greek? He scattered it with wasteful. Wasteful? Yeah. In one older English translation was prodigy. Oh. And that's where that term goes from. In a prodigal way, which means indiscriminate, or to spread it just out, spread out.

Yeah. Yeah, interesting. The adverb means in a hopeless or lost state. Huh, it's interesting. Oh, okay. I wouldn't have known there was a hopeless, then to it. Yeah, hold on.

Here we go. Here's the standard New Testament Greek dictionary, B-Deg, for short. Ooh, it's used in the writings of Justin in the second century AD of a madness that knows no bounds. Wasteful. Protocol.

Protocol. Wasteful. So he just went out and he- He blows it, waste it all. He just, yeah. Went on a bender. Mm-hmm. Now, when he'd spent everything, wastefully,

a severe famine occurred in that country and he began to be impoverished. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country and he sent him into his field to feed pigs. Pigs. Jesus is Jewish. Yeah, you don't.

Well, audience is Jewish. You don't eat pigs. You don't raise pigs. No. You don't need to be richly impure. Yeah. It's a bad situation. Mm-hmm.

He's not in Israel anymore. He's in some distant country. Yeah. And he would have been in a really bad situation. He's not in Israel anymore. He's in some distant country. And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. But when he came to his senses, he said, how many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, but I'm dying here with hunger? I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight, I am no longer worthy to be called your son, make me one of your hired men."

So he got up and came to his father, but while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and fell compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the sun said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight, and I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. But the Father said to his slaves quickly, bring out the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet, and bring the fat and calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate.

For this son of mine was dead, and has come back to life, He was lost and has been found and they began to celebrate. Okay, so let's pretend that the parable stops there. Most people do. Because it doesn't. That's right, or at least most people's imagination. So if you stopped the parable right there, it has the same structure as the other two. Plot structure is the sheep in the coin.

Yeah. Except there is one important difference in terms of the characters development here. And one, it's a sheep. Yep. The other one, it's a coin. Yep. And the sheep and the coin aren't blamed. Yeah.

They're not active characters in those little parables. Yeah, the active character is the shepherd or the woman. That's right. It's the most developed character. So here, the father becomes a real developed character. And so does the thing that is lost. So if you've used that grid, then you get two, and if this is a one, two, three, the punch line, you kind of expect this, right? So the point, the son's portrait is really developed. He asks a shameful claim. The thing that you would give to me when you die,

give it to me now. Yeah, that's not awesome. And today's day and age, it's pretty normal. Like, can I have some of my, you know, some of my inheritance now? Oh, I see, yeah, yeah, I got it. Yeah, he asked for the whole thing as opposed to part of it at the time, yeah.

And it's not because he's in dire straits now. Yeah, he just wants it. He just wants to go party in another time. Yeah. And it's not because he's in dire straits now. Yeah. He just wants it. He just wants to go party in another nation. Yeah, yeah, totally. Okay. So, notice that Jesus spends a lot of time developing the nature of this self-imposed exile. In fact, let's run with that observation.

It's about an Israelite son who squanders the generous thing that the father wants to give him in good time, but he wants it now. He sees it and he takes it. Seize he takes. And then he exiles himself to the land of the Gentiles and then finds himself as a slave among the Gentiles. And there he comes to his senses and is like, I've made a very bad decision. Is it according to something? I've made a horrible mistake. What's that from? I don't know. I don't know. I've made a horrible.

It's not so familiar. I've made a terrible mistake. It's a meme. Oh, it's from a rest of development. It's a mistake. It's a meme. Oh, it's from a rested development. It's nothing the job character. So I've made a huge mistake. I made a huge mistake. Oh, that's right. Okay. It's that moment of just honest self-reflection. I don't.

I've made a huge mistake. Yeah, that's right. Okay, first let's just stop there. This is for sure, Jesus is activating the story of Israel, right, shaming their father, which is a normal metaphor in the prophets for Israel as the son of the father who raised them, this Hosea 11, all throughout the book of Hosea. And then taking the things that God gives them and wasting them, this is Hosea chapter two, and then now being lost and slaves in a distant land to the Gentiles.

Yeah. This just has the whole story. It's a story of Israel. The story of Israel. So wait, the younger son is story of Israel. Yeah, or at least it's clearly, it's meant to echo that. Yes. And then the whole point is that this son now thinks that he's unworthy and outside the

bounds. Yeah. And surprisingly, what he discovers is that his father will, how do you say, the idea that he tucks in his garments and running and embracing him. Thusiacically brings about. Yeah, it's extreme. Yeah. The point is Jesus is turning up the volume on the extreme emotion that the father experiences and that also contrasts what the son thought would happen. Point is this father is way more forgiving and merciful

than the son ever imagined. And notice the line what the father says repeats what the shepherd and the woman said in the previous parables. Right? The shepherd said, I found my sheep that was lost. The woman said, I found the coin that was lost. The father says he had the new metaphor. The son of mine that was dead has come back to life. He was lost and has been found. Now of a sudden, being lost is being equated with death, being found is equated with resurrection, new life. This has Ezekiel 37, the Valley of Dry Bones. Exile is like death. People in exile say our bones are dried up, sitting here in Babylon, and God says he's able to bring

life to the dead. This has echoes of the Hebrew prophets all over it. This is kind of a meta commentary on the story of Israel. Yes. But remember, who's meta commentary on the story of Israel. Yes. But remember, who's he saying this to and about? Yeah. To people who are judging that he is offering inclusion to people who seem like they're way too outside the boundary lines.

So he tells a story that imitates the story of Israel breaking covenant going to exile, but being invited by radical generosity back into the real promised land and the party and resurrection and the renewal of the covenant people. This actually is very similar than to the party thing. How blessed is the Shabbat meal in the kingdom of God and G.S. tells the parable this isn't actually that party. The real party is the thing that I'm doing with the poor and the crippled and the lame.

It's very similar here. In what way? The tax collectors and sinners are coming to Jesus and they're having these meals and these parties and the religious leaders grumble, because clearly when the Kingdom of God comes, it's not gonna be a party like this. No, and it won't include those people. Again, Malchite chapter four, the day of God comes. Is that going to be a party like this? No, and it will include those people.

Yeah. Again, Malchurch, chapter four, the day of the Lord is coming, like fire, who can stand? Yes. It will be clear. A separation between the righteous and the wicked. And in that moment, then, the Pharisees think they are the ones in the oppression of exile, and we're waiting for God's

Kingdom to liberate us. And Jesus is retelling the story of Israel, but he swapped out the players. So the real people who are sitting in exile are the people that you Pharisees have written off. The Israelites you've written off from the covenant life of Israel right now in the present. You've exiled them.

And so I'm including them through radical generosity in these parties, these celebration parties. I guess just again, it's the multiple layers of the story. Yeah. Here. You are representing us as a nation. You're representing God. You're representing God. Yeah. And what he's doing through us for the world. And don't you realize that central to the story And don't you realize that central to the story is that we've been blowing it and we even had to go out into exile and God just radically, generously is bringing us back. And if you have that in mind, why would you look at these people and think that they're worse than you are?

That's right. They're worse than you are. It's like, that they're worse than you are. It's the like, you are that man. Yes, that's right. Moment with Nathan and David. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, I never saw that in this parable. That's right. That's right.

And that's why I had you stop there because that's what the whole actual last movement of the parable is about. The actual parable goes on to tell the story of the older brother. You. Who sees this? I'll continue now.

This will all kind of pop. So there's 25. Now the older brother. Who sees this? I'll continue now. I'll give this a little pop. So verse 25, now the older son was out in the field. He came and approached and heard the party, the music and the dancing. He doesn't even go in. He tells one of the servants to come out to him and he says, what, what's all this?

Servants said, well, your brothers come back and your father killed the fat and calf because he received him back safe and healthy. But he got angry. Yeah. He would not go in. So his father came out to him. Notice now the father has gone out to both of his sons and he began pleading with him. Again, more generous than you would expect.

But he answered his father, for all these years, I've been serving you. I've obeyed your commands. Hmm. The analogies come into the surface a little bit here in the power power. Yeah. For a Jesus audience. You never gave me a young goat so that I could have a party as my friends. And this son of yours who's eaten your wealth with prostitutes comes and you kill the fat and calf for him. And the father said, son, you've always been with me. Everything that I, his mind is yours. But we had

to celebrate for the brothers of years that was dead, has come back to life. He was lost and now he's been found. So, the thing that's new to me in this telling, I understood that the older brother, the religious leaders are supposed to identify with the older brother. But first, they're supposed to identify with the younger brother too. Because that, ultimately, that's the story of us all.

That's right. All of us is real. And maybe you and your own personal journey have never done an exile. But that's our collective story. That's right. You're part of that. And so first, empathize and identify with that. But now realize in your personal story, you've

been you've never actually gone out and done that. Like you're the older brother. Yeah, that's right. The goal is for the Pharisees and the tax collectors and prostitutes to all see themselves as the younger brother. Equally culpable and guilty, equally mercifully forgiven by the father. In this moment, the Pharisees have placed themselves on a higher status. Yeah, I never left. But here within the covenant.

Yeah. So it's not like the Greco-Roman social ladder. It's the covenant within the covenant. And it's so interesting that they never left but they're not at the party. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, right. I've been with you.

I'm here. I didn't leave. And the father's like, you're, you're, But you're not at the party. Yeah. Come to the party. We're having a party.

Yeah. He's like, no, I don't want that party. Yeah, that's right. That party. Yeah. Doesn't drive with me. That's right. And now we're back to the surprising nature of the king.

The real party is happening in a way and in a place that, the people who thought. Just cause, just cause you're here here doesn't mean you're actually here Yeah, that's right. Yeah, totally 1.5% So, altogether, forgiveness for these tax collectors and sinners to be part of Jesus' new kingdom of God family, it means forgiveness of sins, huge them in his ministry. So we receive God's forgiveness of sins to become a part of the new covenant people, and we should imitate that towards each other through radical forgiveness. And what radical forgiveness because of God's generous grace to renew the covenant that creates a very diverse group of people.

Yeah. Which then brings us back to the surprising nature too, and the stories of kind of like the wheat and the tears. Is that the right story where there were people who throw? Oh, it's made up of the righteous and the wicked, and you can't tell them right now. You can't tell them part. Don't try to come to this party and tell me who's supposed to be here or not. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah, because some weeds look like wheat and some wheat are actually weeds. Cause I think that's the concern, right? Yes, yes, yes. A sex worker comes in and you're kind of like, can we really trust? This person actually is going to, it's going to change and fit in and it's kind of like this, they really got to prove it. And Jesus is like, look, like don't worry about that.

It's not your responsibility. It's not your responsibility. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's right. And it's so interesting to think about a community of people that are following Jesus together, but you walk into it, and it's kind of uncomfortably like, wait, is everyone here actually really committed?

Yeah, totally. This has been a perennial issue throughout the history of the Jesus movement, right? So we're ranging broader now. Once you get into the letters of Paul or of the apostles, you're at a different moment. Yeah, that's true. In the story where now you're out there in the Greco-Roman world and you're a persecuted religious minority. Yeah. And so knowing who's really committed, it matters. So Paul says to that guy sleeping with his mother-in-law and Corinth, he's like, you're doing something that shameful even in the eyes

of our Greek and Roman neighbors. Yeah. You're gonna bring like the governor down here to shut down because we'll think we're just this weird Yeah, weird sex cult. Yeah, they're gonna shut us down. Yeah, expel that guy That's what so he expels that guy or at least they asked that he's gonna be expelled and then you find out in second The ends that that freak the guy out and that he softened his heart and turned around but Tribal boundary maintenance sometimes in some moments really is important to exclude certain kinds of behavior. But there's a balance between this radical, inclusive, it's a balance. I don't know if I'm trying to imagine that Jesus

is saying, let's just excuse behavior. That's right, yeah, that's right. Cause the tax collectors who are there very clearly also heard him give the sermon on the mount. Yeah, but there's an uncomfortable amount of, wait, is this person really changed or not? It seems like Jesus wants to take the authority to evaluate people, hearts and motives

and where they're at with God. He wants to take that away from us and give that to the all-knowing father who's generous and merciful and wants us to imitate that generosity to each other and let God sort it out. Yeah. Well now we're getting into the actually the last part of our conversation which will be how to wisely interpret the marbles and understand how they speak to us today. Can I ask one more question about this parable of the protocol? We've had a lot of discussion now about the older and younger brother, the two brothers.

Yeah, yeah. Is there anything in this parable that is activating in terms of that whole theme of like... Oh, um... Brothers came in evil. Oh, sure. Oh, yeah. The fact that it's the younger brother. The younger brother.

Who's being celebrated. Yes. And the older brother is on the outs. Yeah, the older brother who did seemingly what you're supposed to do. That's right. Yeah. Doesn't get the favor.

Correct. For sure. The whole book of Genesis is back going here. Absolutely. And what are, yeah. Thank you. It's a good observation. Well, what are the implications of that for this parable? Is it the same what we've been talking about?

Well, it's embodying the same theme of Genesis is that God's electing, generous blessing. The people who he chooses to make as the icons of his generosity in the world or the vehicles of his generosity are always the outsider, the no name, the one of lower rank in order to shame the wise, to put it in the language of Paul. That's part of what that theme's doing in Genesis. And I think Jesus is picking up on that here. It's a part of the upside

down. In other words, the surprising upside down nature of God's kingdom is actually very Consistent with God's behavior throughout right all through Genesis with yeah, Jacob being this yeah Swindler kind of guy, and that's the guy he chooses who yeah wrestles with God. Yeah, he's like that's my guy Yes, and who exiles himself because this stoop of his stoop of choices? That's my guy. Yes. And who exiles himself because of his stupid choices? Yes. Exiles. To the land of the Gentiles for 20 years, totally. Yep.

Trying to imagine Jesus like sleeping under the stars one night because he didn't have anywhere to stay. He's got the stories of Genesis memorized. So he's just reciting them. And he's thinking up a new parable. At some point Jesus thought up this parable with all these little details. He crafted it. And this is a story produced by a mind saturated in the Torah and the prophets.

Yeah. Yeah, so good, man. So that's the second main theme. What we would normally call G.S. is moral teachings, reparables, I think, in this perspective shift that we want to invite people into is all highlighting this subversive, surprising value system of the kingdom of God.

There should challenge our existing value systems. 1,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5, The third main theme. The first one is the kingdom is coming in a surprising way. Second theme is the value system. Turned upside down and turns ours upside down. The third is parables that focus on a moment of crisis brought about by Jesus offering the kingdom here and now you better make your decision. So these are a variety of parables.

These are either parables about, hey, somebody is given something and then there's a long period and then the person who gave it comes back. There's a reck something and then there's a long period and then the person who gave it comes back. Yeah. There's a reckoning. So there's that theme.

The reckoning. The reckoning. The king returning. The master coming back. Yeah. The landowner. This kind of thing. Or these will be parables of, hey, there's two ways, two choices you can make right now.

You do this, destruction. You do this. Life and blessing. In both those cases,, you do this, life and blessing. In both those cases, It's a different type of reckoning. Different type of reckoning, but the point that there's a decision to be made that Jesus's offer the kingdom puts in front of Israel in this moment.

The first one of the manager coming back, the owner, the reckoning, that seems to be in contrast to the surprising nature, which is the reckoning isn't happening quite yet in the way you would expect. Yeah, that's right. This is kind of saying, it will come. Yes, it will come. And Jesus tells these parables of people going away,

a lender gave talents and then went away. These are most consistently and densely gathered around Jesus' approach to Jerusalem, which tells us once again, there are commentary on what Jesus sees happening in that very moment. For example, after Jesus, Palm Sunday, goes up to Jerusalem, everybody is,

Hosanna, Hosanna. He goes into the temple, actually, he owns the place, condemns it, quotes Jeremiah 7, the chapter where Jeremiah said, this temple's gonna be destroyed. Yeah. And Jesus says, made it a den of robbers.

Yeah, you mean den of robbers, connect the dots here, people. Then by what authority do you do this? This kind of thing. One of it's the parables he tells in response. We've alluded to in this conversation. It's in Matthew 21, verse 33. Listen to a parable. So he's telling us,

this is like his retelling of Isaiah 5. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. In fact, it's like his retelling of Isaiah 5. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. In fact, it's verbatim drawn from Isaiah 5 with opening lines. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a wall around it, dug a wine press, built a watch tower. So you're just quoting Isaiah 5 to me, that's correct. That's right.

Isaiah 5, upload. Then, twist from Isaiah 5. He rented a vineyard to some farmers and he moved to another place. He's been away for a while. And there's some other people cultivating this. Now, if I know Isaiah 5, what do I know? This vineyard to some farmers and he moved to another place. He's been away for a while. And there's some other people cultivating this. Now, if I know how they have five, what do I know? This vineyard produced stinky grapes.

Stinky grapes. So in the place of the stinky grapes, he develops a new little twist, which is about these selfish, irresponsible, violent managers. So when the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenant farmers to collect the fruit. Also was a very common setup in Jesus' day, distant landowners. Yeah, because they sold it off to some foreigners. So the tenant farmers seized the servants, they beat one, killed another, stoned a third. Then he sent other servants, more than the first time. They treated them the same way. Notice the one, two, here's three. Last of all, he sent his Hebrew word,

his Ben. He sent his Ben. Son, sword son. Ben and bot. He sent, yeah, that's right. Bot is starter. Ben, he sent his Ben, that's going to be important. Okay. He sent his Ben to them, saying, surely they will respect my Ben. But when the tenets saw the Ben, they said to each other, ah, here's the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance. The logic here is ridiculous. Yeah, because it's not going to give it to them. No, so you kill him, right? It's just absurd logic. I think you're supposed to be like these guys are. And on Rulibunch. So they took him through him out of the vineyard and killed him.

So then, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to the tenants and the people around? Or like, he's going to kill him. He's going to get him. He'll bring those wretches to a wretch at end and rent the vineyard to other tenants who will give him a share of the crop at harvest time. Jesus said, in the temple pre-synx to the religious experts, have you guys read the Bible?

The ebbene that the builders rejected has become the chief ebbene. And the Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes. She quotes from Psalm 118, which tells a little parable at this moment in the palm about people who are going to build a new glorious temple building. And it's picturing the builders out in the quarry gathering stones. And they like select some, oh, these are good ones. It's a perfect, really beautiful good ones, these are perfect, really beautiful, ooh, that one's cracked,

has this weird marbling in it, so they reject that stone, they toss it to the side. And in this little parable in Psalm 118, that ebbin, the stone, that the builder's rejected in the Lord's eyes, the way Yahweh looks at that ebbin, that's the one that I'm going to make the pinnacle of the whole the whole building. And of course there's a play in Jesus' parable, not in Greek, but in Hebrew, that's behind the Greek, because the parables in Greek and Matthew.

And he would have been telling it in Arabic? In Arabic or Hebrew? It works the same way. Yeah, it would be Bina and Oppna, in Aramaic. But the point is, is that in this wordplay, Jesus is connecting the Sun in the parable to the Ben. The Stone. To the Eben, to the Stone. The rejected Sun, the rejected Stone. And what he's doing is hyperlinking things

that are already hyperlicked in the Hebrew Bible about the rejected Sun and Serv servant of Isaiah and all this. So this is Jesus' reply. So oh, and then the next line. Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and he doesn't mean Israel as a whole right here. He's talking to the corrupt Jerusalem leaders that will be taken away from you and given to people who will produce its fruit. And anyone who falls on this ebony will be broken to pieces. And anyone on whom it falls

will be crushed. Here he's picking up language from Daniel's dream in Daniel chapter 2 about the big statue of being crushed of all the kingdoms of Babylon and the world that are crushed by Eben, the wise out of the media. Yeah, totally. And when the chief priests and Pharisees heard the parables, they knew he was talking about them. Yeah.

So he is no longer concealing what he just said. He's gonna take away from you. Yes, yeah, that's right. So this is a big major theme, crisis parables, sometimes what scholars call them. What often happens, especially with other ones, where the guy who gives talents, right, units of money to these people and he goes away in a long journey, what has tended to happen in church history is we take them out of narrative context, and we turn them, we read them from our

moment in the story. Here I am, a follower of Jesus. Jesus is like the guy giving me money and opportunities. I better not squander them or else God's going to cast me outside where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth or something. And so again, what we're doing is we are taking them out of the context, the gospel authors, to putting them in, which changes the whole meaning of the story. It seems to me. Tired of the change of meaning of that story. Well, this is a unique and unrepeatable moment in the story, so to speak. Jesus coming to Israel. Jesus coming to Israel is the culmination of

that covenant story and saying, you guys, it's now or never, where they're going to be the light to the nations and the city on the hill. That was as said. Yeah. And it's the only way it's going to happen is if you follow me and the kingdom as I'm presenting it to you. There isn't like another exile. We'll get there. That's in the step of how we first hear the parable in its context. We get the main idea. Then the step is how can we turn that into a principle or a truth that can we can apply in an analogous way in the present? Well, when I say that, I guess I'm saying God's been working with Israel. Yes. There's this culminating moment here where it's like the train's arriving. Yes. And this is happening.

This is how God's working with Israel. And that's a crisis moment. Forces you to make a decision. Make a decision. Yes. You're part of this or not. That's right. So, even though it has a totally different structure at the end of the sermon on the

mount, Jesus says, the one who hears my words and does them is like the one who builds his house on the rock. The one who hears my words and doesn't do them build your house on the sand. It's the same point in terms of the mission of Jesus to Israel. It's the same point. My kingdom is the only way that Israel is going to fulfill its covenant purpose. My kingdom will stand the rest will sink. Yeah, if you don't follow my way, which is surprising and subversive, and he gets that, that's why he tells the other parables.

Yeah. But if you don't follow this surprising twist of the kingdom story, you're going to destroy yourselves and be destroyed. And that's why these parables are all integrated with predictions of Jerusalem's destruction in the Gospel narratives. In other words, Jesus will go back and forth predicting the destruction of Jerusalem and these types of crisis parables because that was the moment that he was trying to force that issue with Israel of his day. So there you go.

Well, in the next, this is a cool parable. I mean, he, this whole sun and stone thing is really cool to see. He's talking about himself then in the parable. Like he really inserts himself. Yeah, that's right. It's clearly about him in a clear way.

That's right. The sun comes, the third thing, and then they kill the sun. And so he's reflecting on what's gonna happen. Yeah. And he's intentionally stirring the pot. And like you said, these parables are getting more, yeah, they're getting more intense as he gets closer

to Jerusalem because these parables are commentary what he sees happening. That's right. And so he sees himself coming in and he knows he's gonna get killed. That's right. Yeah Just all of it the young women at the wedding who don't fill their lamps of oil and then they reach a moment where it's too late Yeah, same thing the sheep and the goats Mm-hmm the wedding banquet the guy who didn't have on the right wedding clothes

Mm-hmm, and he's kicked out these are the these are the parables that are hardest and they're usually hard because And he's kicked out. These are the parables that are hardest. And they're usually hard because we don't read them in the narrative context of Jesus' mission, and we try to make them about theological. We try and turn them, put them in a different story. All these are about the crisis moment for Israel. In the moment that Jesus is telling us. In the moment that Jesus is telling us.

That's right. That's right. And when you read them in that context, which is the one that's provided for us, not only do they make so much more sense, they honor what Jesus was actually doing. So for example, sheep and goats, it's really quick. How does this context reorient that?

I don't know if I can put it on. Yeah, that's a. I mean, that's a classic, very simple one. Totally, that's right. So the whole point of that parable is, there's a group of people called the least of these of my brothers, who were poor and destitute and imprisoned, and people who feed them and receive them and take care of them, are the ones who receive the kingdom, the people who don't.

So here, it's a commentary on his whole ministry. Yes, and specifically about how he's, as Jesus is passing from the scene, he tells that right before the night of the Last Supper, which is the moment where he passes the baton, where you all are going to be the ones who now carry on the mission. In Matthew chapter 10, when he sends out the 12th, which is the first moment, he starts training them carry on, he says, anyone who gives a cup of cold water when he sends out the 12, which is the first moment, he starts training them, carry on.

He says, anyone who gives a cup of cold water to these little ones of mine receives you. So yes, what the parable of sheep and goats about, it's often made into a parable about, here's how God thinks about you and how you treat the poor in general and how you treat the poor in general determines your eternal destiny.

Yeah. But do you see what we've done? We've taken the parable out of its context and we swapped it, we swapped the original characters, which is Jesus and the leaders of Israel and disciples. Yeah. And we turn it into a different story. So it's another moment where

how Israel will respond to the disciples as they go out and represent Jesus and as they're persecuted and imprisoned and homeless like Jesus, how people receive the gospel through the apostles will determine whether they participate in the kingdom of God or not. So we'll actually talk about this very issue in the next episode. Yeah, because then you can stop there and go, but what is it about helping the poor and accepting the poor? That's right. And you can still get those truths of how important that is to God. That's right.

But to try to create a theological framework of like, who's in and who's out kind of thing, generalized out, that's where you kind of get more hot water. I'm just saying we need to insert an extra step in our study of the parables, which is to take their narrative context in the mission of Jesus in the first century, seriously, and let that determine what it means.

And all of these crisis parables seem to have the similar context, which is, the crisis is Israel's story is culminating in Jesus. What are you Israel going to do about that? Yeah, because if and he warns if you don't accept my way, which is the way of radical forgiveness and reconciliation, you're going to go down the way of the rebels. Either the rebels or the compromisers with Rome, and both of those are going to lead to Jerusalem's destruction and they did. Not just a few decades after Jesus was executed and resurrected, what happened to Jerusalem was exactly what Jesus predicted would happen

because they didn't adopt His way. And so that's the first context of meaning. What the parables now mean to us as readers of the gospel? That's very important, but we shouldn't ask that question at the expense of thinking about their first context. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Bible Project Podcast. If you're enjoying the series on how to read the parables and you have a question about anything we've talked about, it's time to send those in because we're going to get ready for an upcoming question

in response episode. So record yourself asking the question, give us your name and where you're from, try to keep it to around 30 seconds or so, that would be great, and you can send those to info at BibleProject.com. Next week, we're going to discuss the natural way that most of us read parables. So an allegorical approach to the parables essentially is looking at every single detail in the parables and finding a symbolic correspondant

and it lifts the parable out of context and puts it in a new context. Skill to develop and reading the parables is, how to identify the one, what are the actual symbols that I'm supposed to think are the important ones? And how do I connect them to what Jesus intended? That's a million dollar question.

Today's episode was produced by Dan Gummel, our theme music comes from the band Tense. We're a crowdfunded non-profit, Portland organ, and we make free resources that show the Bible as a unified story that leads to Jesus. Thank you for being a part of this with us. So, how would you guys like to hear us? Charlie, he's Joe. Thanks for introducing me. Appreciate that. I'm Joe. How's that you got? I don't know. I'm Joe. What do you call me?

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